LENS FLARE
LIGHTING - Lens flare and how to avoid it
Contrary to what you may have been told, you can shoot into the sun. But if you point directly at the sun or if it is off to one side, you will nearly always have unwanted lens flare. These are unwanted artefacts that spoil the composition (1). But they can be avoided, depending on how you frame your shot. By placing the sun behind a leaf or branch (2) the sun is eclipsed, and you can see that’s all it takes to stop the lens flare whilst still keeping the ambience of the moment. This effect can be achieved by eclipsing the sun behind a tree, a tower, or a building, anything in fact.
Note how the sun has been eclipsed by the church spires (5 & 10), yet is still visible. The Swiss tree (6) is enough of an obstacle to prevent too much of a flare. Even shooting in environment as complex as air-to-air environment, you still have to avoid the unwanted sun flare! By getting your target aircraft to eclipse the sun you get the desired effect.
Although the sun is setting (3 & 11) and its light is weaker, you may still get lens flare, but they tend to look more like sun streaks and therefore more in keeping with the composition. By eclipsing the light source you will create some wonderfull ambiences.
All photography and information © Jon Davison 2021